Melania Trump To Hit The Campaign Trail Today For First Time Since RNC

Melania Trump is scheduled to speak Thursday about her husband’s policies for women, families, and children, breaking a three-month streak since she last addressed a crowd at the Republican National Convention.

Trump is expected to speak at 2 p.m. ET in the Philadelphia suburb of Berwyn, Pennsylvania.

The Donald Trump campaign’s schedule of events lists the GOP nominee and his running mate Mike Pence as the rally’s featured speakers, though the event description clarifies that Melania Trump and Indiana First Lady Karen Pence will speak at the event. According to the Washington Post, the Trump campaign promises the event will preview “the kind of First Lady” Melania Trump will be.

Trump’s last appearance on a national stage was followed by accusations that she plagiarized sections of Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech, which Donald Trump eventually acknowledged in a joke months later at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner.

The speech will be a rare campaign trail appearance for Melania Trump, who has said she spends most of her time parenting the couple’s 10-year-old son, Barron. Donald Trump announced last week in a joint interview with his wife that she would give “two or three speeches” during the remaining two weeks of the campaign, seemingly to Melania Trump’s surprise.

In August, facing questions about his Trump’s immigration history, the campaign announced that she would hold a press conference to answer questions about her immigration status before marrying Donald Trump and becoming a citizen. That press conference has not happened.

A campaign press release published on Twitter by the New York Times’ Yamiche Alcindor includes excerpts from the upcoming speech:

I come here today to talk about my husband Donald and his dep love and respect for this country, and all of its people.

I have come here to talk about this man I have known for 18 yeras. And I have come here today to talk about our partnership, our family, and what I know for sure in my heart, about this man, who will Make America Great Again.

I want our child in this country, and all around the world, to live a beautiful life, to be safe and secure.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matt Shuham is a news writer for TPM. He was previously assistant editor of The National Memo and managing editor of the Harvard Political Review. He is available by email at mshuham@talkingpointsmemo.com and on Twitter @mattshuham.